The present invention relates to a recording/reproducing apparatus for conducting recording or reproducing, in particular it relates to that enabling to record a large amount or volume of data information, etc., at super-high density.
Developments are made on a scanning-type tunnel microscope (hereinafter, “STM”) and/or an atomic force microscope (hereinafter, “AFM”), having spatial resolution of level of atoms and molecules, and they are applied in various analyses on fine structures; i.e., being utilized widely as a surface analyzing apparatus. In particular, the AFM is developed to be a scanning-type probe microscope (hereinafter, “SPM”), using various kinds of physical quantities as a probe, in recent years, and lately, various studies are made upon the possibility of realization of a recording/reproducing apparatus with using those means; i.e., as a means for accessing to atoms and molecules.
The recording/reproducing apparatus with applying the probe of scanning-type, which is used in the AFM, is described in the following Patent Documents 1 and 2. In those, there is described an apparatus of causing changes in characteristics within a very fine or microscopic area on the recording medium, through application of desired voltage on a prove, while driving a large number of probes at the same time, thereby conducting the recording and the reproducing. Each of the large number of probes has an area in charge thereof, being called by a “frame”, respectively, and also carries out the recording and the reproducing within the area in charge thereof. And, for the time when a part of the probes is broken, in those patent documents, there is provided a means for exchanging a probe unit, on which the probes are provided in a large number thereof, or the recording medium.
Further, in the following Patent Document 3 is shown the structure of the recording/reproducing apparatus, in which the probes are aligned into a radial direction, opposing to a rotation-type recording medium, while providing a moving mechanism for moving them into the radial direction, opposing to the rotation-type recording medium (see FIG. 15).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. Hei 6-12710 (1994);
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2000-113532 (2000); and
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. Hei 7-93833 (1995).
Thus, in the Patent Documents 1 and 2, in the case when some of the probes are broken, an entire of the probe units are exchanged, irrespective of that there still remain a large number of normal probes.